Richard Shelby and East Area Rapist Attacks (1976-1979)
Connection Details
Shelby was a lead detective on the original EAR investigation in Sacramento County.
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Richard Shelby
person
Richard Shelby was a Sacramento County Sheriff's detective who was one of the original investigators on the East Area Rapist case in the late 1970s. He authored "Hunting a Psychopath," detailing the investigation and the frustrations of trying to catch a serial offender who seemed to know police procedures. Shelby came agonizingly close to identifying DeAngelo during the original investigation — DeAngelo was briefly considered as a suspect due to his law enforcement background but was not pursued.
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East Area Rapist Attacks (1976-1979)
event
Series of home-invasion sexual assaults in Sacramento and the East Bay from June 1976 to July 1979, later tied by DNA to the Golden State Killer, Joseph DeAngelo.
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Related Connections
DNA analysis linked the EAR Sacramento rapes to the ONS Southern California murders.
DeAngelo committed at least 50 sexual assaults across the Sacramento area from 1976 to 1979.
Crompton investigated the EAR cases in Contra Costa County and documented the crimes in "Sudden Terror."
Sacramento Sheriff's Department was the primary agency investigating the EAR attacks from 1976 to 1979.
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